Thunderous waves of criticism have hit NASCAR all throughout the year. Pre-existing issues like the Next-Gen car’s passing difficulties and unfair charter deals aside, the sport has encountered some fresh officiation problems. For instance, the Damaged Vehicle Policy raised eyebrows in Watkins Glen and Kansas, where Ryan Blaney and Josh Berry’s cars were towed out without explanation. Then there were several botched-up caution calls that affected both Cup and Xfinity – and this riled up Kevin Harvick.

The ending to the Cup Series season drew the spotlight on the elimination playoff format. Joey Logano cracked records as the first champion with the lowest average finish of 17.1. Meanwhile, Kyle Larson was kicked out of the Round of 8 despite holding 6 wins and leading 1700 laps. Basically, the season saw a lot of egregious lapses, and Kevin Harvick is taking the executives to task.

Kevin Harvick rips apart higher-up’s claim

After OEMs conspired to get Christopher Bell or William Byron into the Final Four via race manipulation, NASCAR used its iron hand. The teams involved received penalties, however the OEMs escaped scot-free. A huge tide of criticism erupted at the lawlessness being allowed in the sport. NASCAR’s Chief Operating Officer, Steve O’Donnell, grew defensive. “Can you name one sport that doesn’t have officiating questions throughout the year?” However, the sheer volume of questions that now face NASCAR invalidates the COO’s line of defense. That is what Kevin Harvick emphasized in a recent ‘Kevin Harvick’s Happy Hour’ episode.

Joey Logano’s path to a third championship is dotted with controversy. If NASCAR did not hit Alex Bowman with a post-race weight inspection penalty in Charlotte, we would be seeing somebody else posing for the championship interviews. So Kevin Harvick fired shots at the sanctioning body for its confused calls: “Yeah, I think the officiating has to be better…It was awful in certain situations. They have to be more proactive in putting people in the right positions to try to get in front of things instead of reacting to things when they’re wrong.” Harvick acknowledged NASCAR’s admission to its mistakes – it has promised to review the playoff format. “On the flip side of that…I think Elton Sawyer and NASCAR, in general, have done a great job in admitting things.”

However, Harvick subtly added, “But far too many things have to be admitted.” The Brickyard 400 race saw a questionable call on the final lap. Ryan Preece spun out in Turn 2 due to a flat tire and sat immobile. NASCAR delayed the caution flag until after Kyle Larson grabbed the white flag. Parker Kligerman would have won his first Xfinity race in Charlotte – if NASCAR had not issued a caution for a vehicle after a 20-second delay. So Harvick continued his diatribe: “Some of the late caution calls, (etc) just need to be cleaned up. I still think that we can make the points system a little bit stronger from the regular season standpoint.” He added, “So they got a lot of work to do but I think that’s typical for any off-season.” 

Kevin Harvick heaped emphasis on one lapse – for which he has criticized NASCAR earlier.

A four-wheeler problem 

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The 2022 debut of the Next-Gen car brought upon NASCAR an age of endless scrutiny. In the first year, this car faced safety issues – Kurt Busch wrecked in a spine-chilling crash in Pocono. The resulting physical impact caused a concussion, which eventually ended his racing career. Then the cars caught fire as well. During the Cup playoff opener in 2022 Darlington, Kevin Harvick faced a fire and his left front tire came off. The former Stewart-Haas Racing driver then began selling a T-shirt that said: “Happy’s Crappy A — Parts 4 Less.” Although NASCAR has curbed most of these safety issues, the passing problems persist. Especially on short tracks – where the aerodynamic setup does not get along well with the car.

So Kevin Harvick continued: “The short-track racing packages definitely need to be as high on the priority list as anything. They’ve spent millions of dollars on aero…shifting and not shifting. In the end, the car just doesn’t race very good on the short tracks.” NASCAR discovered a solution to passing via Goodyear’s tires in Bristol. During the March race, tremendous tire fall-off made for an exciting race. However, officials could not replicate that splendor during the Fall. So Harvick applied pressure there: “What they thought was soft is not soft enough. You look at Bristol and these places, and there is still a lot of room for improvement on the tire to cover up the inefficiency with the car.” 

Evidently, NASCAR needs to do a lot to appease not just Kevin Harvick, but the large swathe of fans awaiting changes in the sport. As the off-season gets underway, let us see how it progresses.